Alexander Ward

The president-elect is taking a page from the playbook he used in his first term when he sought to restrain Iran and North Korea.

WASHINGTON—As the Biden administration seeks to broker an end-of-term peace deal in the Middle East, it is bringing along a surprising back-seat partner: Donald Trump. Instead of slamming a White House-brokered Lebanon cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah announced Tuesday, Trump and his advisers have stayed largely quiet about the diplomatic breakthrough, while Biden administration officials shift their focus to a cease-fire in Gaza, a much tougher task. It is a rare sign of tacit agreement with President Biden’s approach that could produce mutual benefits: for Biden, a legacy-defining foreign-policy win before he departs in January; for Trump, one less global crisis that he will have to handle.

Getting a Gaza cease-fire before Biden leaves office is likely to be difficult, however.

President Biden is meeting this morning with his national security team to discuss recent events in Syria, a senior administration official said Sunday. Since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad, the administration has said only that it is monitoring the situation.

President Biden took a victory lap on Sunday, saying his administration’s policies accelerated the Assad regime’s fall by weakening Russia and Iran. Answering a question, he added that the U.S. was working to secure the release of Austin Tice, the hostage held in Syria for more than a decade.

President Biden said the U.S. launched airstrikes against Islamic State targets inside Syria on Sunday, just hours after the Assad regime fell. “Just today, U.S. forces conducted dozens of precision strikes, airstrikes within Syria targeting ISIS camps and ISIS honorables,” Biden said, referring to Islamic State.

Military action would break with longstanding U.S. policy of stopping Tehran’s weapons program through diplomatic means.

Military action would break with longstanding U.S. policy of stopping Tehran's weapons program through diplomatic means.

The Commerce secretary says investment, more than export controls, will keep the U.S. ahead of Beijing.

Four years after the Biden administration made the race for chip manufacturing a top priority, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo says efforts to restrict China's access to technology haven't held back the country's progress, and federal funding for domestic innovation is what will keep the U.S. ahead of Beijing.